Microwave ovens have became staples of modern kitchens since the 1960's and are well known to provide rapid cooking of food items. A common problem with microwave ovens is that food items are not uniformly heated when disposed in stationary positions. To overcome this problem turntables are commonly provided in microwave ovens to rotate food items during cooking. However, for foods which can be stirred, even when turntables are used it is typically necessary to stir such food during microwave cooking to provide more uniform heating and a more homogenous temperatures for the food. Typically, the oven is stopped at least once during the cooking cycle, the food is stirred, and then cooking is resumed. It is desirable to automatically stir food while it is being cooked in microwave ovens and thus provide more uniform cooking temperatures, without having to interrupt cooking for manual stirring procedures.